Extra-Cultural
We often think of translation as allowing us to read foreign texts. To others, it’s somewhat irrelevant. However, the significance of the role translation within literature can only be described as utterly unfathomable. I like to think of the key word here being “unfathomable”, as when it comes to describing translation, it operates like a double-decker bus, travelling wherever it can and housing two meanings. There is the extent translation can reach, which is practically limitless as new listings of literature being scribed almost at every time, everywhere. As we walk upwards, onto this metaphorical second storey of the bus, we see that translation is an aspect that, more often than not, “can never be fully explored or understood” [incl. hyperlink] (dictionary definition of unfathomable) due to its immeasurable intakes on intra & intercultural works. To further elaborate, difficulties will invariably present themselves when it comes to something as intricate as the intertwines of translation. But a few bumps on the road won’t stop this literary bus ride.
As of recent times, as a student, I have begun to undergo a course centred around “World Literature”. One of the first tasks we were assigned to participate in was the reading of many, many stories from around the, you guessed it, world. More specifically it was the renowned 2022 Literature World Cup! I’m sure you’ve heard of it. Looking back, I would consider it an activity to appreciate, and one that I would not have if not for the course and our more than passionate professor. It provided insight into a different world, from around the globe, and it has, without doubt, exposed a cultural perception I would have thought not possible.
It was within this World Cup that I got first taste of true, translated foreign literature. An Algerian piece titled Treasures by novelist and essayist Mohamed Magani. To simply summarize the overall plot of said piece, we are dropped headfirst in a household in where marriage has placed its presence on a young girl within a traditional Algerian family. Unfortunately, for little to no reason, at the last second, the groom not only calls the whole event off but as well the relationship with his now former fiancé. It is a tragic story with an ambiguous end but via conveyance of language, it is a story that I never would have read otherwise, and boy am I glad I did.
One thing that took me up and away was the high level of descriptiveness the translated words possessed and how breathtakingly beautiful the language was. I had always imagined the whole idea of translation to be the simplification of estranged terminology as to make it more convenient. And whilst, in this case, it does apply semantically, the vocabulary seemed as intricate, yet resplendent as ever. An example of this is exposed right from the get-to. The opening line! “In the middle of an interior façade sunken in abiding shadow hung a water-swollen goatskin lashed to an iron rod.” I knew I was in for a whole onset of imaginative expository strikes. Furthermore, I found it amazing as to how the paragraphs “rolled down like [rushing] waters” and the imagery “like a mighty stream,” despite the possible withdrawals of translation (explored further down this post).
[ Last few quotes from Martin Luther King Jr’s speech I Have a Dream. The significance? Absolutely none, I had a random urge to put some of the speech in. ]
Moving back into the written world of Algeria, I can recall in a prior post, that that I stated the story as “an unmitigated 7 pages of pure story” and that Magani “continues to explore this prospect of culture” with the centralized themes of matrimony, and familial bonds. Magani develops the characters overtime with a what can only be described as ‘Austenatious’ view of life in where the family of the bride feels it necessary for marriage to be successful and if it were not, the fear of what society would think of them would manifest into reality. I am of course, referring to the regal read of Jane Austen’s Pride & Prejudice.
“An unmitigated 7 pages of pure story,”
“continues to explore this prospect of culture”
As an Australian, I found the cultural insight that is Treasures to not only be informative in nature but also act as a relative contrast. It had never occurred to me that regions in Africa were severely focused in when it came to marriage. Moreover, within my culture and country, marriage is treated a bit more lightly to say the least. Don’t get me wrong, espousal is still significant within Western worlds, but it’s less common to see many youths getting married early on but more common, as well as accepting, to witness divorce come into play later on in life.
From here, it is evident that translation can help us understand a thematically rich and descriptive world outside and differing to our own.
Poetry is one of, if not the most exuberantly shared forms of literature. The connotations within these texts of scheme and unique construction can bring out a vast amount of sentimental value and vivid imagery that sits alongside thematic messages. Expanding on this more, we can look at the literal and figurative translations of poem The Death of Abderrahman, written by Algerian poet Habib Tengour.
One thing I feel like I should have mentioned earlier, but hey, now is better than never, is the observation that much of modernistic Algerian literature is written in French. Historically, this was due French colonialism in the 19th century, resulting in Algerian literature transitioning towards the language of romance. Moving on!
The Death of Abderrahman is the first section of a nine-section poem reflecting on the murder of Tengour’s good friend. What is bewildering by the backstory of this is that the friend was killed due to him being “a prominent intellectual at the University of Constantine in 1922.” The audience is exposed to this concept of assassination and theme of the death of innocence. Where one’s “heart is light, [filled with] happiness celebrating at home,” and the next moment “those waiting around the corner,” wait to “seize you.” A theme of tragedy runs wild, as the context unveils that these murders happened often. Both Algerian poem and story reflect and shed light on different yet important parts on the country’s culture.
In regard to the translation of poetry and foreign texts in general, it is these stacks and layers of intricacies that label poetry so difficult to translate. In the words of American poet Robert Frost; “Poetry is what gets lost in translation.”
When translation is involved and not completed to a high enough standard within the world of poetry as well as literature in general, the complications increase and decrease in unnecessary ways. To elaborate, we may see a translated stanza of poetry, or a general paragraph be correctly translated from a literary viewpoint, but the emotive value and message from the passage will have vanished and ultimately simplifying a poem down to a textual paragraph. This may be due to abolishment of rhyme scheme, grammatical issues or even just the simplest of word placements.
Alternatively, the impediments that may derive from translation are also just as imminent and impending. A colleague of mine within the course brought up this idea of “lost words” which draws parallels to the ideas of a ‘foreign word having multiple meanings in English’ or ‘English doesn’t even have a word for that.’ In my experience, when listening to my family speak Italian, the case of the word “lingua” often comes up. Depending on the context which also relies on context, can either be denoted as “tongue” or “language” This can be really confusing at times, believe me.
After considering these points and heading back to the land of Algeria, The Death of Abderraham’s literal and figurative translation can be taken into account more. Diving further it can be revealed that Delaina Haslam, the guest translator of the Poetry Translation Centre tries to counteract these issues brought up from French. Haslam claimed that they attempted to mimic the “imagistic jolts … achieved, in the French” via the use of phonetic vowel patterns. An example of this is delineated through the word ‘Désarroi’, which directly translates to ‘disarray’, however in this context Haslam decides to interpret this as the word ‘confusion’, a word that contains a variety of vocalized vowels.
Tengour employed a poetics of fragmentation, where the sense is established through fragments and the narrative follows through imagistic jolts. These effects are achieved, in the French, whilst maintaining a beautiful and sonorous lyricism. We tried to translate these (often vowel sound patternings in the French) into constontal patterns in the English (e.g., the repeated ‘h’ sounds in the final stanza of the first section).
So, what can be done to minimize the potential of these blockades obscuring a decent poetic translation? Well, aside from getting an expert translator such as Haslam, from what has been said and my own prior experiences, I believe the best and most vital thing to vital to understand the context and authorial intention behind the piece. It is something that benefits not only written literature but spoken language as well. Or should I say spoken lingua?
Within the initial half semester of studying this globalized topic, one thing has come as me as clear as day, no adaptation need. And that is that translation is a more than crucial aspect of the subject, even literature in general. Even though some authorial value and sentiment may disorient itself throughout the process, the flaws of translation alone should not prevent one to stop reading it. I know it won’t stop me. So yeah, whilst we often think of translation as allowing us to read foreign texts, it allows the reader to explore universes upon omniverses of worlds. Worlds that without translation, would never have existed in the lives of many.
Bibliography
Literature
From “The Death of Abderrahman.” (n.d.). Poetry Translation Centre. Retrieved September 4, 2022, from https://www.poetrytranslation.org/poems/from-the-death-of-abderrahman
Admin. (2021, September 22). Treasures by Mohamed Magani. Words without Borders. https://wordswithoutborders.org/read/article/2021-09/september-2021-pen-centennial-treasures-mohamed-magani-edward-gauvin/
Information
Bowman, E. (2018, April 15). Can Poetry Be Translated? [Review of Can Poetry Be Translated?]. NPR; NPR News. https://www.npr.org/2018/04/15/602261007/-nprpoetry-literary-translator-aaron-coleman
Black, E. (n.d.). An Overview of Algerian Literature from Colonialism to Contemporary Times. Culture Trip. https://theculturetrip.com/africa/algeria/articles/a-postcolonial-legacy-and-the-language-of-freedom/
